Brewers pitcher named mustache champ

Hair apparent, victorious at Chicago bash

October 29, 2011|By Rob Manker, Chicago Tribune reporter

What started as a joke for Milwaukee Brewers pitcher John Axford four years ago has grown into something far more.

Axford, who sported the first of his now-signature mustaches as a gag while in the minors, was named the Robert Goulet Memorial Mustached American of the Year during 'Stache Bash 2011 festivities Friday night at Joe's Bar in Chicago.

The Fu Manchu'd Axford received more than 50 percent of the 1 million-plus online votes cast, according to Aaron Perlut, chairman of the St. Louis-based American Mustache Institute, which bestows the honor. He beat out 21 other finalists, including former Bears coach Mike Ditka and GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain.

Axford, who received a plaque and crown, helped lead the Brewers to the National League Championship Series this season, where they lost to the eventual World Series-winning St. Louis Cardinals in six games.

"I guess it's like consolation," Axford said of the mustache honor. "I would say this award is up there with anything I've done in baseball. I mean, it's the Robert Goulet Memorial award. … It's one of the greatest awards you could ever win."

He's also rocked the waxed handlebar look on occasion, though any similarity to that of a certain former Brewers reliever — Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers, perhaps the most famously mustachioed pitcher ever — is pure coincidence, Axford insists.

The 28-year-old from near Toronto is the second baseball player to win the award in the four years it has been given. Clay Zavada of the Arizona Diamondbacks, also a relief pitcher, won the award in 2009. Zavada hasn't pitched in the majors since, due to injury.

Does Axford fear a Goulet curse?

"I'm not one for superstition. … So hopefully everything will be fine, knock on wood," Axford said, just before wife Nicole pointed out that knocking on wood is itself a superstition.

Other winners were Orlando-area firefighter Brian Sheets last year and New York City narcotics detective Tim Galvin in 2008.

'Stache Bash precedes the month of "Movember," a monthlong mustache-growing campaign designed to call awareness to prostate cancer and other cancers affecting men. Axford said he'll participate by shaving his current mustache and growing a new one throughout the month of November.